Well friends, it is now OFFICIALLY my favourite time of the year! Cheers to the holidays! I’m so excited to get my decorating going and maybe get working on some homemade gifts (if I can get my act together). But first up is always my holiday card shopping with Minted. For the last 2 years I’ve ordered my cards from Minted, and this year will be no different. I have nothing but great things to say about the selection and quality of their cards, not to mention the service.

If you don’t know Minted they are a design marketplace that uses technology to allow consumers to discover great independent artists who may not have access to traditional retailers. They source creative content from a global community of independent artists, then sell the best content in the form of art, home décor, and stationery to people like you. Minted has been holding art and design challenges monthly since April 2008 which are open to anyone for both submission and voting, and so products sold are essentially curated by the Minted community itself! I love this concept.

I love sending and receiving holiday cards but let’s be honest, it can be time consuming especially when it comes to addressing the envelopes. One of the best features of Minted holiday cards is that they offer free custom envelope addressing. If you have your contacts on your computer, you can just export them to excel and upload them to your account and they are there for whenever you order cards! Then you get all your envelopes pre-printed with addresses in the design you choose! You can also choose to order return address labels! The holidays are already jam packed with things to do, so these time-saving features are a lifesaver.

Minted offers a variety of beautiful photo-cards as well as non-photo cards with a variety of paper and printing options. Foil, letterpress, luxuriously thick or fancy glossy paper, the choice is yours. But one of the coolest options Minted has launched this year is their Completely Custom Cards. Do you have an adorable holiday picture that your kids or nieces and nephews have drawn for you? Well, you can have holiday cards made with that on the front!

So awesome, right? And it doesn’t have to be kids art! Maybe you want to use a drawing or sketch you’ve done. The possibilities are endless. You can also have these masterpieces made into Completely Custom Art Prints which would make great Christmas gifts.

Now the idea of me posing by myself for a holiday cards feels a smidge on the awkward side (no one want to see me with a Santa hat on the front of card) so I typically go for the non-photo cards. Here is the card I ordered last year….

I haven’t ordered my cards yet for this year (thank goodness they have an express shipping option for many of their cards!) but these four are definitely contenders!

Which one do you like best? Again, I cannot say enough about my experiences with Minted. As example of the great customer service they provide, last year the address on my return labels was cut off. So, I simply used their online chat option (which was so easy and awesome) to let them know about the error and I had new corrected labels at my door in 24 hours! Needless to say that made me love them even more. And even if you already have your holiday cards covered, they have so many unique gift ideas throughout their site, so check it out! Have a great day!

XO,

Disclaimer: In exchange for writing this post I was provided with Minted product. However, all opinions are my own and are based on my excellent past experiences with Minted.

I don’t know about you but I’m starting to rev up my holiday planning. From events to decor I really need to (quoting my lovely mother) get a wiggle on! One thing I need to do is my holiday cards. Last year I fumbled together a mismatched bunch of cards that I bought on sale after the Christmas before and sent them out. And that totally works but it is so nice to send out something that is a bit more personal. Luckily there is a place where you can order fabulous custom holiday cards. Enter Minted.

Not only does Minted have a HUGE selection of card designs, they are created by independent designers from all over the world. From the Minted website:

“Our mission is to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.”

This is a great concept. Not only to we the public get access to designs that we might not see in a regular retail store, but the designers also get a forum to build their careers and get exposure to the public. That is a WIN-WIN if you ask me.

Now, back to the lovely selection. Here are some of the photo card options:

And for those of you who don’t really want to send out cards with an awkward picture of yourself on it (um, I definitely fall into that category) there are non photo cards as well!

They have various types of cards types and shapes – postcard, petite cards, ornament cards, foil-pressed cards, you name it. And since it’s late-(ish) in the holiday planning season, there are also selected cards that they can do express printing to get them to you sooner. And you can get pre-addressed envelopes for no extra cost. You just have to upload your addresses when you order! Kind of awesome. Head over to their website and see for yourself!

And now for the goooood part….I am giving away a $50 credit to Minted! To enter, just leave a comment below!

For an additional entry tweet “Win a $50 credit for holiday cards from @minted and @lgrecreated http://recreated.ca/2013/11/17/giveaway-get-your-holidays-on-with-minted” and provide another comment saying that you tweeted. (2 entries max per person).

Contest ends Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 10 pm EST and I will announce the winner on Friday, November 22nd!

I had a great weekend with my visiting with my parents (which isn’t finished because I have today off, WOOHOO!). We went to the Royal Winter Fair, the Bond exhibit at the TIFF Lightbox (which I would highly recommend if you enjoy the Bond films) and did some shopping. Good times.

But back to the business of the day…my Last Weeks Loves….and here. we. go……